Danish conquest of England

The Danish conquest of England occurred from 991 to 1016 when the Danes, led by Sweyn Forkbeard and, later, his son Canute, invaded and conquered the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England, 127 years after the Great Heathen Army's arrival in the British Isles marked the start of the Viking invasions of England. Canute defeated King Edmund Ironside at the Battle of Assandun and seized the throne of England for himself. England was incorporated into Canute's North Sea Empire from 1016 until his death in 1035, and England returned to Anglo-Saxon rule on the death of Canute's son Harthacnut in 1042; his Saxon half-brother Edward the Confessor would succeed him and be the penultimate Anglo-Saxon ruler of England.

Background
Following the final collapse of the Viking kingdom of Jorvik (York) in 954 AD, England experienced around 30 years free of significant Viking raiding. Political changes in Scandinavia at the end of the 10th century boded ill for the ruling English House of Wessex. The Danish king Harold Bluetooth consolidated his political control over his kingdom and was among the first of the Viking rulers to accept Christianity. Harold's building of great round forts at Trelleborg, Fyrkat, and Nonnebakken in Denmark, around 980, shows he was able to command considerable resources.

From the 980s Viking raids began once more against the coast of England. There was a political crisis caused by the murder of King Edward the Martyr in 978 (at the instigation of Aelfhere, Earl of Mercia) annd the new king, Aethelred, was at first uncertain of his throne. Although the Viking raiders of England came principally from Denmark and Norway, the Vikings retained their bases in Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the islands of Scotland, where the last great raid took place under Magnus Barelegs of Norway in 1098-99.

History
Aethelred - whose nickname means "Ill-Advised" - was relatively untroubled by the first, small-scale Viking raids. In 991 AD, however, a much more dangerous Viking army made its way from Scandinavia under the command of Olav Tryggvason. Landing near Maldon in Essex, the raiders were at first bottled up on an offshore island by Byrhtnoth, the local ealdorman (high-ranking official). He then unaccountably let them across the narrow causeway to give battle and found his army cut to pieces.

Paying Danegeld
On the advice of Archbishop Wulfstan, Aethelred paid out a Danegeld of 10,000 pounds of silver to be rid of the invaders, a bribe which merely attracted more Scandinavian armies in search of a similar payoff. Progressively higher Danegelds were paid in 994, 1002, 1007, and 1012, when they reached a colossal sum nearly five times that of the 991 payment. The strain caused in England by the Vikings led to panic measures being taken. On St. Brice's Day (13 November) 1002, the King ordered the massacre of all Danes in England. This prompted a fresh invasion in 1003 led by King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, bent on vengeance (Olav had made peace with Aethelred and agreed not to return to England). From then until 1013, Sweyn and the Danes returned again and again, aided by the wavering loyalty of several Anglo-Saxon ealdormen. There was a brief respite in 1012 when the Viking leader Thorkell the Tall defected to the English, disgusted at the murder of Archbishop Aelfeah of Canterbury after his capture by a Viking band. Thorkell returned to Sweyn's side and in 1013 the Danish king landed at Sandwich, Kent, with an enormous force. The rapid submission of Earl Uhtred the Bold of Northumbria led to the collapse of Anglo-Saxon resistance. Aethelred fled to the court of his brother-in-law, Richard II of Normandy, and by October Sweyn was recognized as King of England.

Canute takes power
Sweyn's early death in February 1014 breathed false hope into the English cause, prompting Aethelred's return. However, Sweyn's son Canute, once he had secured his position in Denmark, returned to England in 1015. Although he briefly acknowledged Aethelred's son, Edmund Ironside, as king of southern England in 1016, both Aethelred and Edmund died within six months of each other and by December, Canute was unchallenged king of the whole country.

England was not part of a vast realm that spanned the North Sea and included Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden. The lack of any credible Anglo-Saxon pretender made Canute's rule secure, and his rapid marriage to Emma, Aethelred's widow, cemented his position both in England and in respect of his new father-in-law, the Duke of Normandy.

Canute's main change to the governance of England was to establish the new large earldoms of Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, and (in the 1020s) Wessex. He rewarded his leading followers, making Thorkell earl of East Anglia (until his exile in 1020 for rebellion) and Eric of Hlathir Earl of Northumbria. He also appointed native Anglo-Saxons, giving Mercia to Leofric (whose wife was Lady Godiva), and Wessex to Godwin, whose son would later become King Harold II. Canute established his main court in England, at Winchester, which became the capital of his huge northern empire. At the time of his death in 1035 it seemed the triumph of the Danes was complete.

Aftermath
Canute's death led to the dissolution of his empire, but Danish rule over England continued under his sons. Although Cantue had probably intended his son Harthacnut to inherit the English throne, the heir was in Denmark when his father died. This allowed Harold Harefoot, his half-brother, to seize the throne of England with the assistance of Godwin, Earl of Wessex. Harthacnut came to the English throne in 1040. His two-year reign was the last by a Danish king and was followed by the restoration of Anglo-Sxon rule under Edward the Confessor. A Viking fleet invaded England under Harald Hardrada of Norway in 1066, and as late as 1085, Cnut IV of Norway planned (but did not dispatch) an expedition to England.